Reported Deaths - Update Post #15 Page 1 (Cats More Effected)

[Craftlady]

Here is interesting note on an article I found on CNN (here's the full story article) story

The Veterinary Information Network reported Tuesday that at least 471 cases of pet kidney failure have been reported since the recall, and more than 100 pets have died. (Full story) Menu Foods has confirmed 16 pet deaths.

Interesting the Menu Foods only says 16 confirmed deaths.
Yet, the Veterinary Information Network has way larger numbers.
Also, in this article there PETA says they want dry food recalled. However, some say dry is not the cause of deaths.

[Laura's Babies]

Working like I do, this has really got me questioning leaving mine at home alone now.. They have 2 people checking in on them but there is nobody to observe or notice any strange behavior.. I feed mine Science Diet dry and Mike did some investigating and Science Diet does not make the food themselves in a plant of their own. He is switing his to Royal Canin who does make their own... But it is like I told him, how do we know anytime what is going in these foods we feed our little sweethearts at any of these places?

They would have to test and restest every batch of food for every substance known to man... Look how long it took them to find the problem this time.... all tests kept coming back negative until they finally narrowed it down.

A BIG lesson has been learned through all this for the makers of all our babies foods. By the time all is said and done, it is going to cost this company BIG TIME!! Sad to say, all the money is the world will not replace those wonderful babies that died or ease their loved one pain from the loss. This whole thing is just so sad!

[Medusa]

We have to put our trust in our vets and the people who make our pet foods. And our trust has been betrayed. We have enough in this world to be concerned with. This was the last thing I ever thought we'd need to watch dog. (Pardon the pun.) It's a tragedy and it's INFURIATING! If this were humans, these people would already be held accountable. Well, my furkids are more faithful than any human I've ever encountered, except for my son.

[Craftlady]

FDA finds new chemical in recalled pet food, sick animals
• NEW: FDA working to rule out any use of tainted wheat gluten in human food
• NEW: Agency investigating whether the gluten was used in dry pet food
• FDA says chemical used in plastics found in recalled pet food, sick animals
• Scientists not sure melamine was cause of pets' deaths

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products.

The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food, but was not aware of any risk to people.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the melamine was the culprit in the deaths of more than a dozen cats and dogs and the illnesses of hundreds more, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

In a news conference, FDA officials said that the apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to a company that manufactures dry pet food, but they would not name the company.

The FDA is attempting to determine if that company used any of the wheat gluten, imported from China, to make dry pet food, Sundlof said.

Wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, is also used in some human foods, but the FDA emphasized it had found no indication that the contaminated ingredient had been used in food for people.

The FDA said it would alert the public quickly if the melamine was found in any foods other than the recalled pet food.

Cornell University scientists also found melamine -- used to produce plastic kitchen wares and used in Asia as a fertilizer -- in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company's wet food.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food earlier this month after animals died of kidney failure after eating the Canadian company's products. It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned by the apparently contaminated food, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds if not thousands have died. The FDA alone has received more than 8,000 complaints. (Menu Foods recall information)

The new finding comes a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a rat poison and cancer drug called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

New York officials have detected melamine in the recalled food as well. Yet New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hooker added that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but that it was unclear why the latter substance would be poisonous to the cats in which it was found.

"While we have no doubt that melamine is present in the recalled pet food, there is not enough known data on the mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it could cause illness and deaths in cats. With little existing data, many questions still remain as to the connection between the illnesses and what has caused them," Hooker said.

The recall involved nearly 100 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food made by Menu Foods. The recall covered products carrying names of major brand-name and private-label products sold throughout North America.

Menu Foods used wheat gluten to thicken the gravy of its pet foods, FDA officials have said.

Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein did not know whether company testing had found melamine in its products. The company planned a press conference later Friday.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported the melamine finding in Friday's editions.

Meanwhile, animal rights advocates called on federal food safety regulators and pet food companies to expand a nationwide recall of dog and cat food to include dry varieties, claiming they make pets sick.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans to make the appeal Friday in Washington after it said it received complaints from pet owners who claim their animals suffered kidney failure after eating dry pet food.

Norfolk, Virginia-based PETA wants the FDA and the companies to extend the recall to foods that have received complaints, chemically test it and perform necropsies on the animals involved. It also wants companies prosecuted if the FDA's probe turns up wrongdoing.

[anna_66]

Working like I do, this has really got me questioning leaving mine at home alone now.. They have 2 people checking in on them but there is nobody to observe or notice any strange behavior.. I feed mine Science Diet dry and Mike did some investigating and Science Diet does not make the food themselves in a plant of their own. He is switing his to Royal Canin who does make their own... But it is like I told him, how do we know anytime what is going in these foods we feed our little sweethearts at any of these places?

Precisely why I am SO glad I feed mine raw.

This whole thing is just so sad

[catmandu]

It is very sad, and a little confusing.
If all that food was contaminated you would think that there would be a lot more than 16 Pet Deaths.
I wonder though how many Pets passed on, and was thought to be natural causes before all this came out.
Its a shock to me that these huge Pet Food Companies are not making thier own food.A DISGRACE really.
Running shoes and other consumer products are one thing.
Food we feed Our Beloved Companions another thing all together.

[catlover4ever]

It is very sad indeed.

My mom and I were talking about if either one of us had fed the tainted food to any of ours (we have 18 cats between the two of us) we probally would have lost all of them, and if we did not loose them all then we would have probally had each and everyone of them at the vets office.

My brother-in-laws aunt has a "cat colony" with just about 80 cats that her and her husband take care of....she lost 12 of her cats to this recall...and she is totally devestated.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Here is interesting note on an article I found on CNN (here's the full story article) story



Interesting the Menu Foods only says 16 confirmed deaths.
Yet, the Veterinary Information Network has way larger numbers.
Also, in this article there PETA says they want dry food recalled. However, some say dry is not the cause of deaths.

Fox news ran this same story. They said there is an independent company doing a check to see how many pets have been sick or died. Fox news said that only 10% of the vets have answered the on line questionair that was sent. Out of that over 100 had died and 471 were sick from the food.

I can't help but feel this is lots worse than they are telling us.

[catfamily]

My cats get fed excellent food naturalbalanceinc.com but inbetween I gave them the recalled food for a *treat* because that is the only food Mia would eat and before that was the only food Jasmine would eat,now they eat the food I have for all.
But my Lucy had a seizure a couple weeks ago/or a stroke and my monty had a 106 temp about 4 weeks ago for no apparent reason brought him in after lots and lots of fluids seems fine now but who knows.lucy still looks wpied out.i noticed before christmas i told mike lucy didn't look right and she could of been having these seizures/or strokes right along from the food or just her having them for whatever reason.
I had Hannaford food,walmart brand food,iams pouch that was recalled and 1 other can't remember.
Anything to fatten up the NEW cats that came in that were seperated and of course every now and then gave a *treat* to my regular cats.BIG mistake and me and Mike are both sick to death over all this.
All we can do is watch them and hope for the best.ALL of them.
If they look bad of course we always rush them in...no matter no money or what time of day/night.

[catfamily]

We have to put our trust in our vets and the people who make our pet foods. And our trust has been betrayed. We have enough in this world to be concerned with. This was the last thing I ever thought we'd need to watch dog. (Pardon the pun.) It's a tragedy and it's INFURIATING! If this were humans, these people would already be held accountable. Well, my furkids are more faithful than any human I've ever encountered, except for my son.

I'm with you on faithfulness from my cats as you are to your Dear furkids.People can be so mean to one another especially if your the type to give.Usually givers get stomped on and takers just keep taking
I know I'm a giver,and keep getting stomped and stomped on and frankly I've had enough.So...I just avoid the takers! Try anyway! Even though; I still love people very much and I know I'll go get stomped on all over and over again.We don't change.
Sometimes I'm so exhausted and in so much pain but I play play play with my cats with a big laugh and smile so they don't see my pain.And they really are great.God I love my cats so much.

[Medusa]

Yep, our furkids are good for what ails ya.

[catmandu]

I was in a store today and a man had a buch of pouches and he wanted his money back or a credit towards dry Cat Food.
He didnt have a receipt as how many eople keep receipts fot everday items?
He got a credit but only after a long quarrel.
I wonder how many stores are accepting this possibly bad food back.

[Craftlady]

I would think the major stores (PetSmart for example) arent giving a fuss about returning. I havent read of any difficulties.

[Laura's Babies]

I lost my trust in the FDA a long time ago. They have failed to protect humans so why should they give a hoot about our fur babies? Just look at ALL the recalls on things they have approved in just the last 15 years. Maybe they should insist on a "sterner warning" lable on all pet food... "CAUTION! THIS COULD KILL YOUR PETS!"... then they have done all they can! Grrrrrrrrr!

[Craftlady]

Pet Food Chemical May Be Worse for Cats
Saturday, March 31, 2007 4:43 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By ANDREW BRIDGES

WASHINGTON (AP) — A greater sensitivity of cats to a chemical found in plastics and pesticides could explain why they've died in larger numbers than have dogs after eating contaminated pet food, experts said Saturday.

The small number of confirmed reports of pet deaths bolstered by a far larger number of unconfirmed anecdotal reports suggests cats were more susceptible to poisoning by the chemical melamine that tainted the now recalled pet food, officials with the Food and Drug Administration and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Saturday.

"I am concerned we have a situation where we have a sensitive species and it is the cat," said Steven Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist and director of the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control center in Urbana, Ill.

Testing by the FDA and Cornell University has found melamine in samples of recalled pet food as well as in crystal form in the urine and kidney tissue of dead cats. They've also found the chemical, in apparently raw form in concentrations as high as 6.6 percent, in wheat gluten used as ingredient of the recalled cat and dog foods, said Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian.

"There was a sizable amount of melamine. You could see crystals in the wheat gluten," Sundlof told The Associated Press.

Sundlof and others have not been able to explain why the chemical would have caused the kidney failure seen so far in the roughly 16 confirmed pet deaths, all but one in cats. There are anecdotal reports of hundreds more pet deaths.

"It has a very low toxicity, at least in rodents. The problem is, we don't have information in cats, and that seems to be the most susceptible species," Sundlof said of melamine. Sundlof also allowed that the tainted cat foods could have contained higher concentrations of melamine than did the dog foods.

Earlier this month, Menu Foods became the first of three pet food manufacturers to recall its products. It did so after cats began to fall sick and die during routine company taste tests of its wet-style pet foods, sold under nearly 100 store- and major-label brands across North America. Other than in the recalled products, melamine has not been found in other Menu Foods pet foods, the company said.

Melamine is used to make plastic kitchenware, glues, countertops, fabrics, fertilizers and flame retardants. It also is both a contaminant and byproduct of several pesticides, including cyromazine, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The United Nations Environment Program considers melamine of low potential risk, as does the EPA. The agency has sent FDA the database information it has on the chemical and will provide technical assistance as needed, EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said Saturday.

Sundlof said the FDA hadn't found any studies of melamine in cats, and the results of only a single 1945 study that tested it on dogs. That study suggested the chemical increased urine output when fed to dogs in large amounts.

"That was pretty much it," Sundlof said.

Still, it's well known that identical substances can have very different effects on cats and dogs. For example, the flea killer permethrin is OK to use on dogs but lethal to cats, Hansen said. The same could be the case with melamine.

"Cats are very sensitive to many different chemicals, whether drugs, pesticides or plants. We certainly know they have some unique physiological responses that make them susceptible in cases where we wouldn't expect it in other species," Hansen said.

The investigation has traced the melamine to wheat gluten that Menu Foods, Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill's Pet Nutrition bought from an unnamed U.S. supplier. The latter two companies have recalled a limited number of products since Friday. The wheat gluten, a protein source, was imported from China.

Sundlof said the recall could expand further, depending whether other pet food manufacturers also bought wheat gluten from the same supplier.

"We're still in the process of tracing it at this point," Sundlof said. There is no indication the wheat gluten entered the human food supply, he added.